PA Chairman Abbas always claims to international audiences that he seeks peace. Yet on Palestinian “Prisoner’s Day,” Abbas sent Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki to represent him at an event arranged by Fatah in Bethlehem to honor the relatives of the “heroic” terrorist prisoners.

On stage with Abbas’ representative were several masked men wearing military uniforms, armed with automatic rifles.

Do they look like peace-seekers?

Posters at the event displayed pictures of numerous terrorist prisoners including at least two terrorist murderers: Marwan Barghouti who planned attacks in which 5 Israelis were murdered and Khalil Jabarin who murdered Ari Fuld, a father of 4, last year.

Zaki has explained the PA’s long-term strategy. He has said that his and Mahmoud Abbas’ goal is to destroy Israel in stages - the first of which is forcing Israel to withdraw to the 1967 lines - so that Israel will come to an end:

"The agreement is based on the borders of June 4 [1967]. While the agreement is on the borders of June 4, the President [Mahmoud Abbas] understands, we understand, and everyone knows that it is impossible to realize the inspiring idea, or the great goal in one stroke. If Israel withdraws from Jerusalem, if Israel uproots the settlements, 650,000 settlers, if Israel removes the (security) fence - what will be with Israel? Israel will come to an end. If I say that I want to remove it from existence, this will be great, great, [but] it is hard. This is not a [stated] policy. You can't say it to the world. You can say it to yourself."

[Official PA TV, Sept. 23, 2011]

Zaki’s saying that Abbas seeks Israel’s return to the 1967 lines because it will lead to Israel’s destruction is significant, because Zaki is close to Abbas and has been sent as his personal representative at public events on other occasions as well.

It is also significant that Abbas chooses Zaki to represent him, since Zaki has expressed his support for terror and violence on numerous occasions. At an event in Syria in February this year, Zaki explained that the Palestinians continue “fighting” Israel in different ways:

“We have never had the fighter’s rest. We are fighting and bearing the flag in turn: once with weapons, once with popular resistance, and once with diplomatic, political, and organizational activity. If the flag falls in one arena, it is raised in another arena. Our custom is to continue [with the struggle] without relating to what is taking place around us.”

[Facebook page of the Fatah branch in Syria, Feb. 19, 2019]

In the same speech, Zaki spoke against “normalization” with Israel, and implicitly warned those Arab states that participated in the US-sponsored Warsaw Conference to discuss peace in the Middle East that they will be “condemned” and “slaughtered for treason” by their own people if they normalize with Israel:

“Those who convened in Warsaw (i.e., at the Warsaw Conference; see note below)... and those who are attached to the US - we ascribe no importance to them. What is important is our situation. We have sworn that we would boycott the US, refuse the deal of the century (refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan -Ed.), and condemn anyone who attempts to implement normalization [with Israel] or bypass the PLO... No one will dare to publicly declare their treason, because their people will slaughter them even before we take any step.”

[Facebook page of the Fatah branch in Syria, Feb. 19, 2019]

If Mahmoud Abbas was indeed seeking peace, why did he choose an open terror supporter like Abbas Zaki to be his personal representative?

The following are longer excerpts of the statements by Abbas Zaki:

Posted text: “From the [Fatah] branch of Yatta and its suburbs, Fatah Central Committee member Abbas Zaki represents [PA] President Mahmoud Abbas at events for Palestinian Prisoner’s Day and the anniversary of the assassination of Martyr Abu Jihad (i.e., terrorist responsible for the murder of 125 Israelis), which the Fatah Movement at the branch of Yatta and its suburbs organized in order to honor the heroic prisoners’ relatives amid great official and popular attendance.”

Marwan Barghouti - Palestinian terrorist and member of the Palestinian Authority parliament who is serving 5 life sentences for orchestrating three shooting attacks in which 5 people were murdered: one attack on the Jerusalem-Maale Adumim road (June 12, 2001) in which Greek Orthodox monk Tsibouktsakis Germanus was murdered by terrorists Ismail Radaida and Yasser Ah'Rabai, another attack at a gas station in Givat Zeev near Jerusalem (Jan. 15, 2002) in which Yoela Hen was murdered by terrorists led by Mohammed Matla, and one shooting and stabbing attack at the Seafood Market restaurant in Tel Aviv (March 5, 2002) in which Eli Dahan, Yosef Habi, and Police Officer Sergeant-Major Salim Barakat, were murdered by terrorist Ibrahim Hasouna. When arrested by Israel in 2002, Barghouti headed the Tanzim (Fatah terror faction). After he was convicted and imprisoned, he was re-elected as a member of the Palestinian Authority parliament. On Dec. 4, 2016, he was elected to Fatah's Central Committee.

Khalil Jabarin - 16-year-old Palestinian terrorist who stabbed and murdered 45-year-old Israeli American civilian Ari Fuld, a father of four, in a supermarket parking lot at Gush Etzion Junction, south of Jerusalem, on Sept. 16, 2018. Before succumbing to his wounds Fuld, together with another civilian at the scene, shot and wounded Jabarin, leading to his capture.

Fatah Central Committee member and Fatah Commissioner for Arab and China Relations Abbas Zaki: “Syria’s tragedy is the Palestinian tragedy. The same aggression [against Syria] by 80 states - hundreds of thousands [of people] who do not know the value of freedom and democracy - is being implemented against us by the settlers. Therefore, we and Syria are in the same boat...

We have never had the fighter’s rest. We are fighting and bearing the flag in turn: once with weapons, once with popular resistance, and once with diplomatic, political, and organizational activity. If the flag falls in one arena, it is raised in another arena. Our custom is to continue [with the struggle] without relating to what is taking place around us, because all of those who convened in Warsaw (i.e., at the Warsaw Conference; see note below), according to an American decision and not according to their decision, those without a will, and those who are attached to the US - we ascribe no importance to them. What is important is our situation. We have sworn that we would boycott the US, refuse the deal of the century (refers to US President Donald Trump’s as yet unpublished Middle East peace plan -Ed.), and condemn anyone who attempts to implement normalization [with Israel] or bypass the PLO... No one will dare to publicly declare their treason, because their people will slaughter them even before we take any step.”

[Facebook page of the Fatah branch in Syria, Feb. 19, 2019]

Warsaw Conference - the US sponsored a conference in Warsaw on Feb. 13-14, 2019, to discuss peace and security in the Middle East. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu attended the conference. The PA was invited to attend but refused the invitation and requested that Arabs boycott the conference.